Station-indicator



.I. I. KUVACH.

STATION INDICATOR.

APPLICATION man MAR.4,1920.

Patented Aug. 10, 1920.

2 SHETS-SHEET l.

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1. J. KGVACH. STATION INDICATOR.

`\PPLICAT|0N FILED MAR. 4, 1920.

' 1,349,160. mmm@ 10,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I www @0o @o L@ UNI-TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STATION-INDICATOR.

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, .loi-in Jo'snrH Kovaci-i, a citizen of the Republicof @Zeche-Slovakia, residing at La Belle, in the county of Fayette andState of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Station-Indicators; and I do de'- clare the following' to`be a full',clear, `and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make a'ndv use thesame.

rThis invention relatesto an'improved station indicator. e

Indicators of the above' mentioned character are employed vforthepurpose" of enabling persons to determine thek names of the variousstations and towns before they are reached by the train, street cai", orother means of travel upon which the device is installed. ThisV methodof announcin'L'g` the stations does away with the" usual way, wherein aconductor comes through the car and announces the names of the variousstations and towns being approached.

My device is to be placed at convenient points in the car, for instancevat the end'of the car so it can be readily seen by the passengers. Iiiorder togattract. the' atteiitionof the passengers, I have equipped'tliedevice with an audible signal, suchas a bell, which will ring at thetime the indicator is in operation.

I am aware that devicesfhaveY been patented for accomplishing thesame'result that I do, and I do not claim'it broadly. flowever, thesedevices that I have in j mind are a great deal dierentV in constructionand design fr om mine, and are' notnearly as effectiif'e in operation asmine is'. It is therefore my intention and the object of this 'inventionto generally improve upon and simplify such devices. To this end I haveproduced a device which is'extremely simple in construction, strong,durable, effective in operation and comparatively inexpensive tomanufacture.

Other objects and advantagesof the invention will be apparent duringthecourse of the following description. y

.In the accompanying drawings, forming a Vpart of this specification andin which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughoutthe same; I

Figure l is an end elevation of a device Speecation of Letters Patent.Patented flug. '10, 1920. i Application aied Mameli, i920. semaine.363,248.

constructed in accordance with my invention, the same being shown inuse.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged central vertical sectional view, partly inelevation, of the device, showing the operating mechanism more clearly.

F ig. 3 is a section taken on the plane of the line 8-3 of Fig. 2,looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. Ll is a view taken on .the plane of the line l-fl of Fig. 2, theoperating mechanisni being shown in the position which is assumes beforebeing moved to operative position.

Fig. 5 is a vview like F ige, showing the position of the parts when thedevice is operative;

My Astation indicator is to be used in connection more particularly withrailway cars, but it may be equally well used on street cars ifsodesired. In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration, Ihave shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, the numeral ldesignates'the bottoni or floorv of a railway car,` which in order tosupport my device will be provided with an opening through which thedevice may be projected.` rTheA device may be connected to this floor inany suitable way and shouid project far enough above the upper surfacethereof to enable the passengers to readily see the names of the towns.

lThe device includes a housing' 2 which forms a support for the variousparts thereof and which maybe made of wood if desired. As before stated,a portion of this housing-will project above the surface of the floor toenable the passengers to read the names of the towns. In this portion ofthe casing is the indicator mechanism, designated as a whole by thenumeral 3. This mechanism is more clearly Yshown in Figs. e, and 5,wherein there is shown pairs of rollers journaled in the support. Thereare two pairs of such rollers, and I have designated them as upper andlower pairs 4: and 5, respectively.V The belt 6 is wound about theserollers in the manner disclosed, vthat is, it is wound on one of thelower rollers 4.-, over the upper rollers v5, and thence on theremaininglower roller 4. It contains the names of the towns thereon atwhich the train is to stop. In order to enable the passengers to seesuchnames, the upper portion of the support or housing willbe prohadvided with windows 7 which-may be of glass.

or any other suitable material.

This indicator mechanism is operated'by Vtrack-controlled mechanismsupported in the lower portion of the support 2. This mechanism is moreclearly disclosed in Figf2.-

By referring to this figure it Awill be `seen that the numeral 8designates a shaft which is journaled in the support or housing 2.

c the short chains are connected to the sprockets. 412 and thence tosprockets 13, on the journals of the upper rollers 5. It is to be notedthat both of the long chains are connected to the sprocketsv 10 and oneof them is connected to one of the sprockets 12 on one of thel lowerrollers 4;'while the other like chain is connected to the sprocket12 onthe other lower roller 4. The shortY chains are arranged in a similarway, that is, they are `arranged to cross one another in the mannershown. -ZVith this construction of driving means, l maintain a uniformand steady pull which will insure effective operation of the indicatormechanism and will prevent damaging of thebelt 6 which might otherwiseoccur owing to sudden jerking thereof if only one or two chains wereemployed. While T have shown and described sprockets and chains foroperating the indicator mechanisms Iedesire it to be understood that itmay be accomplished withy any other driving means.

Connected to the lower end of the support 2 is a vertically movableframe, indicated Asection 19 which will be disposed at a distancel fromthe various stations and towns. This roller is held in frictionalcontact with the roller 19 by means of coiled springs 2O which aredisposed between it and the lower end of the support 2. It is desired toprevent the gears 9 from rotating when the device is inoperative. Tothis end, I make use of a pair of bars 21 which are rigidly secured attheir lower ends to the shaft 16,

will be permitted to rotate.

and are provided between their ends with slots 22 through which theshaft 8 extends. The upper endsof these bars extend above the gears 9and have cross pieces 23 secured `to them, the latter carrying a pair offingers 24 which are designed to engage and prevent rotation of thegears 9 when the device is inoperative. AVHowever, as soon as the framel14 is moved Vupwardly by reason of the engagement of the wheel 1S withone of the track sectionsr19, the bars 21 will be caused to move upwardto an extent to disengage the fingers 24 whereby the gears 9 If desired,a guard casing 25 may be placed over the drivingV mechanism.

As before stated, it is my intention to employ an audible signal inorder to attract the attention of the passengers whenithe device is inoperation. This signal includes a bell 26 which is controlled by meansof the con-V tacts 27, which lare brought into operation when the vframe14 is caused tol move upwardly, as is obvious.

` In use, my device will be installed at convenient points in the carsso'that the passengers will be able to readily and, easily see the namesof-the towns as they are brought to view. Within a certain or desireddistance of the town, the cam-shaped rail sections 19 will he placed, ina position to be engagedby the device upon passing over the same. So, itwill be seen that when the roller 18 engages one of the rail sections19, it will be held in frictional engagement therewith by means of thecoiled springs 20. Owing to this, it will be rotated, which in turn willimpart movement to the gears 17. As it approaches the center of the railsection 19 it will cause theV frame 14 to move upwardly against theaction of the springs 20, thus bringing the gears 17 and 9 into mesh,and imparting rotation' to the shaft 8 which in turn causes the sprocketchains 11 to move. It is obvious that such movement of thesprocketchains 11 which are asso ciated with the indicating-mechanism 3,will cause the latter to operate. Such construction of the indicatormechanism will cause the belt device -to bewound from one of the rollers4 onto the other, thus bringing the indications thereon behind thewindows 7 so that the passengers in the car will be able to see them anddetermine the name of the station being approached.

As soon as the roller 18 has passed over the rail section 19 the partswill assume an inoperative ,positionl due to the action of the coiledsprings 20. When in inoperative position the fingers 24 will engage thegears 9 in such a manner as'to prevent rotation thereof which isundesirable and which might otherwise occur due to the jars to which thedevice is subjected. It is also to be mentioned that'when the device isin operative position the bell 26 willV be caused to ring in the manneralready set forth, thus insuring that the attention of the passengerswill-be directed to the name of the town brought to view. n

A device constructed in accordance with my invention will be foundextremely advantageous, as, it will automatically indicate to thepassengers, the name of the town at which the train will stop next; thus0bviating the usual custom now employed. The device is extremelyeffective in operation, and may be installed on trains now in use withextremely slight alterations of the body of the cars. Consideration ofthe foregoing description taken in connection with 'the accompanying`drawing will enable persons skilled in the art to which this inventionrelates to obtain a thorough understanding` of the advantages andoperation of the device. Therefore, further description is deemedunnecessary.

lt is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown anddescribed is to be taken as a preferred form of the same, and thatvarious minor changes in the shape,

lsize, and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departingfrom the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

l claim as my invention:

l. A device of the class described comprising a support, movableindicator mechanism carried thereby, gearing also carried by the supportfor imparting motion to said mechanism, a vertically movable frame,springs between the frame and the support, a shaft journaled in saidframe, a roller on said shaft for frictional contact with a cam tracksection, and a gear on the shaft held out of mesh 'ith said gearing bysaid springs.

2. device of the class described comprising indicator mechanism, asupport for the saine, a shaft journaled in the support, a on the shaft,means coacting with the gear and indicator mechanism for actuating thelatter, a vertically movable frame including guide arms having slotsthrough which said shaft extends, coiled springs loetween the supportand frame to force the latter away from the former, a shaft journaled inthe frame, a roller on the last named shaft for frictional engagementwith a cam track-section, and a gear also on this shaft Vnormally heldout of mesh with the first mentioned gear by said coiled Springs.

3. A device of the class described comprising movable indicatormechanism, a support therefor, a gear carried by the latter forimparting motion to the indicator mechanism, a verf1 "ally movablespring pressed frame carried by said support, a shaft journaled therein,a track-controlled-roller on the last shaft, a gear also on this shaftfor mesh with the first gear, and locking means for the iirst mentionedgear including a bar carried by the second mentioned shaft and extendingabove the first named gear with which it coacts, a cross-piece on this.end of the bar, and a depending finger on the crosspiece for cooperationwith said gear.

A device of the class described coinprising movable indicator mechanism,a support therefor, a shaft journaled in the support, a pair of gears onthe shaft, means reacting with the gears and indicator mechanism foractuating the latter, a vertically movable spring pressed frame carriedby the support, a shaft j ournaled in the frame, gears on this shaft forcoperation with the first gears all of said gears being normally out ofmesh, a roller fixed on the last shaft Abetween the gears for frictionalcontact with a cam track-section, a pair of vertically disposed barscarried by the last named shaft, each bar having an elongated slottherein `through which the iirst shaft extends, a

cross-piece secured to the upper ends of the bars, and a pair ofdepending lingers carried by the latter for engagement each with one ofthe first mentioned pairs of gears.

A device of the class described comprising a support, upper and lowerpairs of rollers journaled in the support, a belt having indicationsthereon, wound from one of the lower rollers, across the upper pair andthen on the remaining lower roller, a sprocket wheel on the journals ofeach of the rollers, a shaft journaled in the support, a gear on theshaft, a sprocket wheel on each end of the shaft, a plurality of longand short chains cooperating with the sprocket wheels, the long chainsbeing connected to the gears on the shaft, one of these chains beingconnected to the sprocket wheel on one of the lower rollers while theother chain is connected to one of the sprockets on the other lowerroller, the short chains being connected to the remaining sprockets onthe lower rollers, directed at angles to cross each other and connectedto the sprockets on the upper pair of rollers, a vertically movablespring pressed frame carried by the support, a shaft journaled therein,a roller fixed on the shaft for frictional contact with a canitrack-section, and agear also on this shaft'for mesh with the firstnamed gear.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN JOSEPH KovAoH.

